Anti-cycling stories are bad for British health, says Chris Boardman

British public health is being directly damaged by anti-cycling reporting in parts of the media, Chris Boardman, head of the government’s main active travel agency, has told the Guardian.

Boardman, a former champion cyclist and businessman, leads Active Travel England (ATE) and is at the forefront of the government’s efforts to help people switch from car journeys to healthier and more sustainable travel.

ATE, set up in 2020 by Boris Johnson to help councils create well-designed plans, has hit a tough time as Rishi Sunak’s government battled bus lanes and 20mph limits. car-free neighborhoods.

While this culture war has subsided since the election, Boardman says the push for better walking and cycling routes remained “very politically vocal,” which could particularly deter local politicians.

Boardman is openly angry about what he sees as misleading media reporting, which portrays cyclists as reckless and dangerous, when, according to a statistic he regularly uses, more Britons are killed each year by cows or lightning than by bicycles.

“Right now we have a very consistent, non-evidence-based, negative narrative to hold back any change. It keeps people from putting their heads up and doing hard things,” he said in an interview.

“It takes people who have the courage to stand up and say, ‘This is not in the public interest. I want my children to be able to go to school on their own.’ Just 340 kilometers away (in the Netherlands), 66% of children move around on their own, and our children are denied that.”

Keir Starmer’s government has pledged to tackle the root causes of preventable ill health, including inactive lifestyle and weight, and Boardman is clear that travel must be part of this: “From a health perspective, active travel is the way you achieve a goal . nation – you are changing the way people move every day. This is the only way you can really help.”

Much of this is aimed at integrating public transport with walking and cycling. In a former role as Greater Manchester transport commissioner under Andy Burnham, Boardman helped the region develop its own unified plan, the Bee Network, with other metro mayors now given the power to do the same.

One way to avoid the culture wars over walking and biking, Boardman said, was to frame them as: “This is your transit customer base.”

He said: “If your first step is a bit of shit, it leads to the car door, and then it doesn’t matter what you do. Active travel is the foundation of a thriving public transport network, even if it is just walking to the bus stop.”

Boardman’s current life spent lobbying ministers and officials is one that he admits would have come as a surprise to his younger self, but it also reflects the lessons he has learned from elite sport.

Pioneering the use of data and aerodynamics to go faster on a bicycle, Boardman’s 1992 Olympic gold on a futuristic carbon-fibre frame bicycle heralded years of subsequent British cycling success, often based on technical innovation and other so-called marginal gains.

Two years later he took the yellow jersey in his first Tour de France with a carefully planned performance in the opening time trial that was so dominant that it is widely considered to have heralded a new era in the race.

Even more significant, Boardman said, was his move after the race to lead research and development for the British Olympic track cycling team, running what was unofficially known as the Secret Squirrel Club.

“I learned to look at the demands of the event rather than its history,” he said. “When I now work with municipalities to build cycle paths, it is the same philosophy as working in a wind tunnel with athletes: how do you make people want to do things differently?”

This attention to detail ensured that the eponymous bicycle brand that Boardman co-founded also became a huge success, with Halfords purchasing the company for more than £10 million in 2014.

By then, he had begun a new chapter, as a public advocate for everyday cycling. This started more or less by accident, Boardman recalled, after he was invited to appear on Newsnight in 2012.

“I was there ostensibly to talk about the Olympics, but they started asking, ‘Don’t you think all these bikes should pay road tax?’ I started to get a little pissed off. But I realized what a soapbox I had,” he said.

This led to the role under Burnham, and then to ATE and his other role as chairman of Sport England. The two quangos are dedicated to encouraging physical activity in different ways.

Will all this ultimately improve the health of the country, skeptical media reporting or not? Boardman has Chris Whitty at his side. Whitty is not only an advisor to ATE, but as England’s chief doctor he has also informed ministers for years about measures against preventable diseases. “He’s a big supporter because he understands it,” Boardman said.

The government has now apparently signed off on this too, but this is just the beginning: “The only thing I can say with certainty at this point is that the right conversations are happening about doing the right things, and that this is underway put. But it hasn’t happened yet.

“Yes, it needs money, but more than anything it needs consistency. After the period we’ve just had of massive changes in people and policies, it’s harder than ever to get people to say, “Okay, this is here to stay.”